(NOTE: Yes, this is Jack’s InSights and OutBursts blog. It looks different on the blog site because I have switched to a different, cheaper and yet, more up-to-date and safer system. Here’s hoping there will be no more computer breakdowns!)
Twists and Turns in Life’s Road
No part of our life corresponds to a long, straight, flat road. When we think about our relationships, our living conditions, our health, or our careers, we have all experienced ups and downs, twists and turns, and unexpected detours. These changes in direction are usually caused by some startling experiences which force us to make a decision—a decision that often turns out to be pivotal, moving us into a very different path.
This spring I had that kind of critical experience and wrote about it in the blog post “I’m Sick.” I was surprised that I had to cancel a speaking engagement. I can’t remember ever in my long career as a public speaker not being able to fulfill a speaking commitment. I took it as an indication that it was time to change our career focus.
The Turns in Our Career Path
It’s not the first time Jo and I have retired from one type of work and taken up another.
- We started full-time Christian ministry fifty-five years ago, at age twenty-four, pastoring a church.
- At twenty-eight we left for Brazil, having made a pivotal decision to join Wycliffe and become linguists and Bible translators. This was a long road, lots of ups and downs, but we were on it for twenty-six years until the Canela people of Brazil were reading a partial Bible in their own language.
- We left Brazil at age fifty-two to travel throughout Canada and the United States, speaking at churches, schools, conferences, and Wycliffe promotional banquets.
- Then, at age fifty-six, I was appointed as President of Wycliffe Canada and later of Wycliffe Caribbean and traveled in a completely different career direction.
- When I was sixty-four years old, I returned to traveling to hundreds of cities and speaking at seventy to ninety events per year.
- Now, at age seventy-nine, I have retired from speaking—except for local or specifically Wycliffe Canada events—and have turned the corner into yet another vocation as I enter my eighties.
A New Focus: Write My Autobiography
During our fifty-five years of full-time ministry, I wrote almost every day—diaries, newsletters, reports, and sermons, and for the last twenty years, weekly blog posts. Wycliffe published three books of collections of these blog posts in the past ten years and I published the fourth one, A Tickle in the Funny Bone, this year. My writing has always been a part of whatever ministry career I was involved in, but it was never the primary focus.
Recently I asked myself, “What might God still want me to accomplish before I die?” And the answer was clear. “Leave a legacy of personal God-stories of my life for my family, friends, and the public.
So, although I still do some speaking, my primary focus is to write my autobiography. I wrote the first book this year as a family project.
- My wife Jo has always been my primary critic. (No, she doesn’t criticize me, she critiques my writing!)
- Two granddaughters, who are also designing the cover, illustrated the thirty-seven stories.
- Another granddaughter and our oldest daughter edited the book.
- My sister wrote the foreword.
- All eight of our grandchildren are delighted to know these true stories are being published since they enjoyed listening to them as small children at bedtime.
The book covers the first twelve years of my life, including the years of Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, up to the time we left for Canada. The Misadventures of Hansje, the Boy Who Kept His Guardian Angel Busy is written for children. It has thirty-seven true stories of events I experienced as a child which show how I became increasingly aware of God’s actions in my life. It should be ready to publish in January 2018.
Exciting Writing Ministry
I’m excited about my new career. The second book covers my arrival in Canada at age twelve through to our departure for Brazil at age twenty-eight. It is already half written in first draft. I’m inspired to write about all the things God did for Jo and me, and through us, and sometimes despite us.
What About You?
So, what excites you in your current work? Are you thinking about retiring? Many Christians simply park their car along the side of life’s road and just watch the ministry-filled lives of others go by.
Take it from Jo and me. We look to God for a new direction in life’s road and keep going for as long as He gives us strength. Don’t be afraid of the twists and turns, or the ups and downs. They are simply indications of the changes and growth that make our Christian lives exciting, invigorating, and worthwhile.
Yes! I like it Jack and this stirs up some smoldering embers others have also blown on; to begin (very soon), to expose to wind much of what is yet waiting in disaray for editing, dating and shaping! Hey I’m only 93./ so why hurry!😇
Hey, get with it Jacob! I’m planning to live until 93 (half way between the ages my Dad and my Mom were when they died) but I’m writing like mad. The more I write the more I remember that also needs to be written.
I keep the picture of a burning library in my mind, when I die, it’s like my library of unwritten stories burns down.
Blessings,
Such good news from you! I’m about 18 months younger than you Jack, so this resonates with my heart how God directs us on and on, lifts and flatter but always on the journey. I’m thrilled with how the hope of glory shines ever and ever brightly too.
Thanks for your neat corroboration that you too are experiencing God’s directions in your life.
He is so good!
Blessings,
Thanks for the reminder to leave a written legacy of God’s work in and through our lives. I am continuing to work on the final section of a life summary I am entitling “Remember All the Way.” (From Deut. 8 / 2a).
Darlene and I are on the edge of a change as well. I have reduced my WBT Sask. ministry time to 3 days a week so I can bank some time to help our kids finish their project in Asia. We are hoping it will work to go for a few weeks in the first half of 2018. Then, by mid Summer I’m expecting that my name will come up on the list for replacing my right hip joint. In the months following I should have time to add more details to my “Remember all the Way” for kids & grand kids.
Good to hear you are writing your memoirs, Gary, and that you are preparing to spend some time with your kids in Asia. May God bless the hip replacement, Jo had both hers replaced and one is without any trouble, but the other had major problems. Both are now okay.
“Remember all the way” is also the title of a book of memoirs by Uncle Cam published back in 1975.
Blessings,
thank you for two big things….one for talking about twists and turns, and staying in the light on the path even though, and also about the need to stay active in the end of ones lively acts to serve, at the end of our lives….I will soon be 76. Just the acts of putting these down is important, as is the sharing for others to see how the will of God may work in an individual life.
A young man from Nigeria is asking me for someone who will be will to set up a go fund me account in their name. He is an experienced translator and wants to take Wycliffe courses in order to continue in this field. I mention this in case you wish to comment on how this can come about. My husband is not agreeable for me to use my name. I have know this young man only on Facebook but he has been helpful. He kindly phoned a friend in Liberia to report new things there when I could not reach my friend there. He suggested how to use Bible funds,
given to me to share by purchasing a Waja NT or Hausa Bible for some there.I would appreciate any thoughts on this, Thank you from Pam W
Your career is an inspiration to many and well worth the effort to record, especially as you do so in such an engaging way.
Thank you, Gordon, for your kind and encouraging words. Yes, God has been good to us.
Blessings,
This finds us in Cairns Australia. Bless you as you continue to inspire and enlighten us on our Life journey with God. Love & Blessings, Don & Gerry.
Hey, have a good time in Australia. Cairns is a great place with tons of things to do and see, so I’m told. Leanne’s oldest son Ryan spent a month traveling in Australia during his recent year-long trip around the world. Great to hear from you again!
Blessings,
Jack
It’s always a delight to hear from you two.
How are you … and how is Jo?
We hope you’re thriving amidst life’s twists and turns … the ups and downs.
Yes, we are, Bryan. Both of us are doing well, physically as well as in mind and spirit.
I am looking forward to your first book. Where can I get it?
It’ll be on Amazon. I’ll let you know as soon as it is published. Right now I’m waiting for my artist granddaughters to have a Christmas break to finish the cover.